13 April 2010

Spotlight on Gorilla Grodd

Even though it may be scientifically inaccurate to say, Gorilla Grodd is one smart monkey, often even displaying telepathic powers. Grodd first appeared in the pages of Flash #106 in 1959. Since then, during his several onscreen appearances, he has mostly wasted used his simian intellect on two nefarious schemes: 1) getting revenge on Gorilla City, 2) turning humans into apes. This week he will be joining forces with other monkey themed villains Monsieur Mallah and Gorilla Boss (its a shame Titano couldn't make it to the party) to take on the likes of Detective Chimp, B'wana Beast and Vixen on the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode Gorillas in our Midst. Make sure to bring your bananas.

Grodd first appeared on TV in 1978 as a member of the Legion of Doom in the Challenge of the Super Friends series. During one episode, his attack on Gorilla City was foiled.

Grodd would return to challenge the Justice League in 2002's episode The Brave and the Bold. Once again his attack on Gorilla City was thwarted. This time, Grodds mind control device was rewired frying his brain. It appeared Grodd would no longer be a threat... but he actually became a bigger threat as the device granted him psychic powers. He formed the Secret Society, a team akin to the Legion of Doom and nearly took down the League.

In Justice League Unlimited, Grodd assembled an even bigger team for a master plan which turned out to be turning humans into apes. he succeeded temporarily, but was eventually defeated and overthrown from his leadership position by none other than Lex Luthor.

In 2008, Flash was seen battling a robotic Grodd in Justice League: The New Frontier. This robot duplicate was simply a trick to try and capture the Scarlet Speedster.

Later in 2008, the real Grodd appeared in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Once again, Grodd went for the humans to apes plan and once again he was eventually defeated. Though that was not the last that Grodd would be seen.

During the crossover episode, Deep Cover for Batman! Batman encountered a good white ape version of Grodd. The evil Grodd went on to lead an ape army in a Planet of the Apes style future.

Mr monkey man also appeared in 2009's Superman Batman: Public Enemies using his mind control to control other villains in the hopes of claiming a bounty on Superman's head. He was taken down in short order. But presumably, this is not the last we have seen of the old chest thumper.